Momma and Mia

Mia Ameruoso missed the dropping ball on New Year’s Eve by only 45 seconds.

Sabrina and Frank Ameruoso of Valley Stream arrived at South Nassau Communities Hospital in Oceanside around 11:45 p.m., and less than a minute after the new year began, the couple were celebrating the birth of a baby girl. Mia weighed in at 7 pounds, 3 ounces.

She was Nassau County’s first baby of 2010, and the first such honor for SNCH in 30 years.

Sabrina Ameruoso, 32, said that when the hospital staff realized that Mia might make headlines, about 10 nurses crowded into her room to help. “They asked if they could turn on the TV and watch the ball drop,” she said. “Everyone started counting down and singing. They were all wearing party hats. Then one push, and she came flying out.”

Mia was due on Dec. 9.

Sabrina said she had worked all day on New Year’s Eve at her job at a clothing store in Mineola. Her husband said that they often visit family during the holidays, but because of his wife’s pregnancy, they decided to stay home to be safe. “We didn’t want to take the chance,” said Frank. “I’m glad we didn’t.”

At around 11:15 p.m., as Frank was finishing baking a batch of chocolate chip cookies, Sabrina told him her contractions were only minutes apart. That was the signal to head to the hospital, and 15 minutes after they checked in, Mia was born.

Cheryl Marx, a nurse who has worked in South Nassau’s labor and delivery unit for 10 years, said that the staff was elated for the Ameruosos, but also happy to play a part in delivering the county’s first baby of the new year. “This was the first time I’ve been involved in something like this,” Marx said. “We were excited. We sometimes have fast deliveries, but she was really fast.”

At the time, of course, the staff had no way of knowing whether Mia was the first of the post-midnight new arrivals, Sabrina said, so hospital staffers called other area hospitals and searched Google for any news of babies being born before her. When Mia was officially recognized as the winner, Frank said, the hospital treated his wife and him to a steak and shrimp dinner. Last Saturday, the two came home with their new baby girl.

Frank, who owns Sunset Printing on Merrick Road in Valley Stream, has a 25-year-old daughter from a previous marriage who has a 6-year-old of her own — which made Mia not only the first Nassau County baby of the new decade, but a very young aunt.